10A= THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2003
Olympic officials face scandal
The Associated Press
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said last week that he was worried about preparations being made for the 2004 Summer Games.
So imagine the sigh of relief that went up from Colorado Springs, Colo., when the swells in blue blazers figured out Rogge was talking about the Olympic committee in Athens and not them.
But the light mood at the United States Olympic Committee headquarters didn't last long.
A whole new set of storm clouds rolled in Tuesday.
CEO Lloyd Ward survived a move to oust him during an executive committee conference call, according to published reports yesterday.
A motion to dismiss Ward was raised but members did not vote on it during the call, USOC
acting president Bill Martin said.
There are also reports that Ward rang up some questionable travel expenses.
According to The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colo., Ward not only traveled to Atlantic City, N.J., to see Evander Holyfield fight on the USOC's dime, he took his wife to Geneva for a meeting with Rogge and then she flew to Los Angeles by herself for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last January.
Ward offered explanations for each expense, but like several things he has said recently, there was another side to the story.
For example, Ward said his wife sometimes took his place at official functions when he had a conflict, which was what happened at the 2002 figure skating championships.
"She's an official delegate of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and it's provided for in my
employment agreement," he said.
But Patrick Rodgers, the committee's former ethics compliance officer, told the newspaper. "The representatives of the USOC are the president, secretary general, officers and board members. His wife is none of those things."
Ward and Rodgers have disagreed before, which helped explain why Rodgers was the former compliance officer.
According to charges leveled in December, Ward helped his brother set up a business in the Dominican Republic — which just happened to be the site of the 2003 Pan Am Games — and then tried to steer some business his way.
Eventually, Ward was reprimanded by the executive committee and denied a $184,000 bonus.
But he was probably spared the ax only because USOC big-wigs couldn't stomach any more turnover — not after going
through four chief executives and three presidents, in the past three years, and enduring a bribery scandal that stemmed from Salt Lake City's successful Winter Olympics bid. So of course, five ethics committee members resigned in protest, including Rodgers, followed by USOC president Marty Mankamyer, who walked out soon after losing a power play of her own.
Some athletes are tiring of explaining away one mess after another to sponsors.
"It's tough on us to defend a group that keeps making the same mistakes over and over again and not be held accountable," said Rulon Gardner, whose gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2000 Summer Games was one of the most inspirational U.S. wins ever. "They should be representing us like we represent them and holding us in the same high regard they expect us to hold them in."
New elections for Hall of Fame
The Associated Press
NEW YORK—The redesigned Veterans Committee failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame yesterday.
Former Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman and New York Mets manager Gil Hodges came the closest to election, getting 50 votes and falling 11 votes shy, according to a baseball source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Former hitting star Tony Oliva and former National League umpire Doug Harvey each had 48
votes, the source said, and former Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo had 46.
"I'm more hurt than disappointed," Santo said. "I was little bit too high. I feel I played the game the way it should be played. I felt I should be in there."
Marvin Miller, the union head who helped players gain free agency, had 35, the source said. Yankees manager Joe Torre, a former All-Star who led New York to four World Series titles, received 29.
announced by the Hall later yesterday.
To be elected, a person had to be listed on at least three-quarters of the 81 ballots that were returned.
The last time the Veterans Committee failed to elect anyone was 1993.
For years, there were 15 members on the Veterans Committee and many baseball fans claimed the panel was full of favoritism suggesting it met behind closed doors in Tampa to choose new Hall of Famers based on speeches, not statistics.
So, the Hall decided to try it a new way.
The new panel included 85 eligible members; the 58 living Hall of Fame players (newly elected Gary Carter and Eddie Murray don't get to vote yet), 25 Hall writers and broadcasters, and two members from the former Veterans Committee whose terms had not expired.
"It certainly gives other people a voice in the process," Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer said Tuesday. "I think it's probably a little fairer this way. I think it's a terrific idea."
Proposal results in debate concerning women's civil rights
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The law requiring equal opportunity for male and female athletes can be better enforced and explained, but the push to loosen the rules should be rejected, two dissenting members of a Title IX review study commission said yesterday.
Their views, outlined in detail in their minority report, aim to counter a series of proposed changes in how colleges carry out the landmark antidiscrimination law.
Critics, building a campaign around actors, athletes and leading senators, hope to spur opposition from a nation of parents.
In a morning news conference opponents also tied the proposed Title IX changes to President Bush.
"We plead with the president and the secretary of education and the Congress to understand the implications of the recommendations," said Julie Foudy, an Olympic gold medal winner in soccer and an author of the dissenting report.
"It could result in substantial losses to women in athletic opportunities," she said.
Education Secretary Rod Paige was set yesterday to receive those recommendations, compiled by his Title IX panel, as well as the minority report from Foudy and fellow commission member Donna de Verona.
At issue is the enforcement of Title IX, which prohibits
sports discrimination at schools that receive federal money. The commission came up with ideas intended to increase the flexibility of the law, but opponents see an attack on women's civil rights.
"These proposals are based on the stereotype that women are not as talented or interested in sports as men, or that men are entitled to greater athletic opportunities," said Sen. Edward M Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) "Those myths are contrary to the ideals and principles that led Congress to pass Title IX."
The minority report asserts that Title IX, in ensuring more opportunities for women over the last 30 years, has not been the cause of any cuts in men's sports. That point of contention is central to the commission's work and many of its recommendations.
The minority report says thereare fewer girls and women in sports because of "persistent discrimination" against them, not because of a lack of interest among females. Overall, the report says the commission gave short shrift to dissenting views, unfairly focused on men's sports, rushed its work and failed to even assess the impact of its ideas.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), said she would ask for a hearing on whether the commission conducted a fair process. Other legislative moves to try to block the commission's ideas could follow, she said.
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